1974 Letter of Bishop Petros of Astoria

Holy Diocese of Astoria

New York, America


To the devout Christian faithful of the Church of Greece


My beloved Children in the Lord,

It is safe to say that the latest events have become known to all of us, which have had as its result the (uncanonical) “removal” of my name from the members of the Holy Synod, precisely because I did not want to sign the encyclical number 1191, dated June 5th, 1974. And, also, as it is understood on page nine of the pamphlet, “THUS DO WE BELIEVE, THUS DO WE SPEAK,” I have repeatedly refused my signature on this, as, in this case, it does not express the truth on this matter and at the same time constituted a clear overreach of the rights of a local Synod of the Hierarchy (see also “Orthodox Word”, October 1974, page 3 in my related article). 

The truth of the above was recently confirmed by the excerpt from the Minutes of the plenary session of the Russian Hierarchy Abroad [ROCOR]. In it, the following is stated regarding the issue that concerns us:

“The first decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia concerning the questions brought forward about the factions of the Old Calendarists in Greece:

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia believes that the introduction of the new calendar constitutes an error, introduces irregularity into the life of the Church and, last of all, results in a schism. As a result, She has not accepted to concelebrate with new calendarists. As concerns the question regarding the presence or absence of grace amongst new calendarists, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia does not believe that She or any other local church has the right to decide definitively, given that properly a decision about this can only be made by a canonically joint meeting of an Ecumenical Council, with necessary participation of a free Russian Church” 17-25 September 1974. (For the entire document with photocopies of the original, see “Orthodox Word” November - December 1974.)

Consequently, I believe it is a good time for me to say once again that absolutely no reason exists for my aforementioned “removal” as a member of the Holy Synod or for the imposition of any punishment against me; but, on the contrary, let it be, as can be seen from the text above, unto my praise and honor. 

For this reason, to remove any scandal from your souls and to prevent the unjust exploitation of these events, I declare once again to everyone that I firmly remain faithful to the holy and Orthodox path of our Sacred Struggle, maintaining ecclesiastical communion only with our Holy Synod and that of Metropolitan Philaret.

On this note, and on the occasion of the upcoming celebrations of the Nativity of Christ, I wish for all of us the abundant grace of our incarnate Lord Jesus Christ, who was born in a cave for our salvation, our true God.


I remain, with fatherly prayers

PETROS of Astoria

in Athens, 20 Dec 1974



Scan of original Greek letter: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H9ARcVk19ws49KJ-qVkwrVWxYhrY92uc/view?usp=sharing

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